the second term agenda of president obama. john harwood joins us now live with all the details. good evening, john. >> reporter: good evening, larry. you know, the house has now passed on a party line vote, zero democrats in favor, about 20 republicans defecting the spending cut portion of john boehner's plan b. it would cut about $200 billion in spending, overt the automatic sequester cuts to defense programs that republicans have been opposed to. now, the debate bef bthe passage of that spending cut bill, and we still have yet to see the passage of the tax increase bill, which is gotten resistance from conservatives, that was an opportunity for both parties to frame the stakes, and eric cantor, the house majority leader, came on the floor and said, this puts the ball squarely in president obama's court. >> we house republicans are taking concrete actions to avoid the fiscal cliff. absent a balanced offer from the president, this is our nation's best option, and senate democrats should take up both of these measures immediately. >> of course, democrats have no intention of doing that. they